Criticising criticism

“I want a world-class opposition, not this riffraff,” said Lee Kuan Yew, a former Prime Minister who now holds the Cabinet title of minister mentor.

And then he went on to add that he would not engage in a preelection television debate with Singapore’s political opposition because it would give them unwarranted publicity.

Riff raff... *rolleyes*

Singapore’s iron-willed founding father Lee Kuan Yew said he will not allow the foreign media to tell his country what to do on domestic issues.

Nice one. When you keep making it difficult for people to do certain things, if the demand is real enough, people are going to find other ways to do them.

Think cigarettes and uncensored VCDs.

Come to think of it, he's as afraid as the Opposition is. They're afraid of each other.

Is There A Winning Strategy for Iraq?

The US state department acknowledged yesterday that there is a risk of Iraq becoming a safe haven for terrorists three years after the invasion of the country.

I guess they didn't see that coming.

Is There A Winning Strategy for Iraq?

In short, the damage has already been done. Iraq was better off before Bush decided to send his troops in to give the impression that he was doing something about the 911 issue after being caught playing golf.

So Iraq is in tatters right now. The leadership is weak, their military is weak and there is civil war.

Finally after so many lives wasted on a war that never should have been and so much money and resources wasted, the US are asking this question.

There is a winning strategy involved. Since the US started it all, they should follow through and ensure the Iraqi leadership is strong enough to stand on their own feet before they decide to leave and wage war on other countries and regions, like maybe Iran and Latin America who are not interested in letting the US have its way in all its arrogance.

On the agenda at current should be:
1) Giving the newly-appointed Iraqi PM administrative support
2) Uniting the three main factions of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds
3) Create jobs

How?

Pull out most of the foreign personnel. Just leave enough behind to help the new Iraqi government run the country at the most basic level while at the same time training their people. I bet the defence armed forces, the police, medical services and humanitarian services have a lotta job vacancies right now.

When people are busy with their jobs, it takes their minds off other issues such as deciding which building to bomb next. It also keeps the economy turning and make them happy when they have enough money for themselves and their families.

Bone

"The PAP has a history of trying to control all political content, and now they are trying to extend that control to new media as well. It shows just how bankrupt for new ideas they have become," said James Gomez, a first-time candidate with the opposition Workers Party and a self-styled Internet political activist replete with his own blog and online news website, referring to the Internet ban and the PAP's newly promulgated party manifesto.

Can't keep knocking them down.

I realise that I'm suddenly being a little more interested in the Worker's Party than the others.

Don't get me wrong. Every political party has only the good of the people at heart, it's just their routes of approach that differs.

I mean I could never be considered for anything in the PAP because I don't fit in the criteria of their elite bunch of candidates. Besides, white makes me look fat.

The other opposition parties are a joke, especially SDP, who keeps shooting themselves in the foot and whose tactic has always been to make the PAP look bad without actually telling anyone about what they can do for the people.

Worker's Party seems to be more practical and sensible under leaders such as Sylvia and Low TK. They're all a bunch of underdogs and that suits me just fine.

Ideal idealistics

South American nations will have to choose whether they want continental unity or individual trade agreements with the United States -- but not both.

Hugo Chavez said that.

I like this guy. His country is so close to the US but he's not giving them any face. He fights arrogance with arrogance and gives respect where respect is due.

I hope he leads the way in showing the world to rise against bullies. If you keep picking on the smaller guys, one day he's gonna have a lightbulb moment and suddenly decide to take the horns by its bull.

I hope Chavez achieves his objectives, especially in uniting not only in Venezuela, but also South America.

Brazil may be a soccer powerhouse and the largest country in that part of the world, but they sure have no guts. Well at least their President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bounce!

Iranian state television confirmed Monday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ordered the Ministry for Sports to allow women to attend soccer games.

See, it doesn't have to be so bad.

In a world where things that are supposed to keep us together are keeping us apart, soccer shouldn't be one of those things. It's a sport. It's supposed to be fun for everyone to enjoy - even aliens.

Slash

US President George Bush has threatened to veto an emergency spending bill to fund the war in Iraq because he says it has grown too expensive.

Did I read that right? Is this an attempt to let our guards down?

New World

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Snyder Rini resigned amid public jubilation on Wednesday, a week after his election sparked two days of rioting in the impoverished South Pacific archipelago.

The presence of ANZAC security forces did help calm the situation a bit and put some order around, and I acknowledge that. It could have been worse.

It seems that a lotta people power thing are going around in the world of late.

Let's see... there was Thailand when Shinawatra stepped down after the people protested over allegations that he "sold" his country to Singapore through the telecoms corp that he sold to Temasek Holdings.

Then Arroyo had her own problems but managed to squash the movement to remove her from office with a little help from the majority of the military that still supports her.

Nepal's King Gyanendra just stepped down as head of government and has agreed to allow the people to vote their own government.

In Latin America, the majority indigeneous folks have taken over running the governments of Bolivia, Venezuela, etc where usually white folks used to be at the helms, since forever.

It seems that the universe is trying to balance the power that be in the world today.

Karma points

Stabbing victim thanks stranger who helped him.

Awww...

One good turn deserves another, don't you reckon?

Balancing the scales

The Muslim world does not need nuclear bombs or F16s.

What it needs is to focus more on education, especially of the youth.

In this context, cooperation with other countries in the education sector, especially in higher education, would go a long way in improving understanding of each other’s social and cultural values.

The vast majority of the Muslim population is peaceful and tolerant. Only a few extremists had exploited the name of religion for their political and personal gains but the electronic and print media have done a bad job by exaggerating facts about the Islamic media and not presenting the true picture.

It's a two way thing, actually. The Islamic world VS The Rest of the World... it shouldn't have to be that way.

I wonder if there's any way the majority of Muslims who are largely peaceful could be able to stop the Islamic fundamentalists who are the minority. I mean, I can see where the problem is. They have guns and we don't. That actually makes us very much the victims too.

Think about it. When they suicide bomb a place, there's a high chance some Muslims who have nothing to do with their agenda die as well, right? Then, why do they keep doing it?

I guess they really believe they're committing the ultimate sacrifice and those Muslims who happen to die along with them goes to Paradise with them too, which in my opinion is a backward way of looking at things.

Guess it's not easy to convince a rock-headed extremist to look at other available options, including Bush and his cronies, Osama and his merry men and Jose Mourinho's Chelski (jus kidding about the last bit!).

Beating the Bush around

Bush said a new democracy is arising in Iraq where there once was tyranny.

"We're sick of the sectarian violence. We believe if you stand with us, we can achieve our objective of becoming a democracy that listens to the people'," Bush said.

"And I believe them. And I believe them. And I told them, I said, 'Look, it's going to be up to you to make it work, but you can count on the United States of America, because we believe in liberty and the capacity of liberty to change lives and to change a neighbourhood for a more peaceful tomorrow'."

Lies, lies and more lies.

The real tyrant here is the guy himself.

In 2003, George W. Bush, owing to the collapse of the Democratic opposition, shifted the base of American foreign policy from containment-deterrence to presidential preventive war: Be silent; I see it, if you don’t.

Observers describe Bush as ‘messianic’ in his conviction that he is fulfilling the "divine purpose".

There is no more dangerous thing for a democracy than a foreign policy based on presidential preventive war.

The next case in point is Bush's appointment last week of the next two public trustees for Social Security and Medicare.

Normally, those positions require confirmation by the Senate but leaders from both parties had made it clear they objected to the president's choices.

He went ahead and installed his candidates while Congress was in recess anyway. Even when the law wisely requires that the two public trustees come from different parties. The Senate has never allowed any pair to serve repeated terms.

So who's the tyrant here, huh?

Collision cost

The World Cup will see the rekindling of a feud between two of the world's leading sportswear brands. Brothers Rudi and Adi Dassler, the founders of Puma and Adidas, fell out six decades ago.

Their home town still bears the scars today.

It's Nike, Adidas and Puma must be the world's 1-2-3 in sportswear and it's interesting to note that the latter two actually share a history together in the beginning.

I'm not a fan of any of them. I don't like it when sports get intertwined with fashion. The end product gets very confusing for the sportsman.

Sadly, they don't care about sports anymore. They only care about fashionistas who go for the sporty look and pretend to be somehow active people. They're the ones who spend money to become walking billboards.

Knuckle sandwich

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has defended his decision to sue an opposition party ahead of the May 6 general elections.

It all started when Chee Soon Juan published in his party's newsletter stating that the PAP had all the while known there were irregulaties in the way NKF handled its funds; that there had been a cover up and that the NKF scandal is only one of many scandals around that the ruling party is trying to keep under a tight lid.

I don't really condone with the way Chee has chosen to handle this. This is guerilla politics.

Ironically, I also do not agree with the way PAP has chosen to respond with yet another suit. I do not think PAP should give Chee a break, as he had indeed broken the rules, but if you keep smacking a kid for any old "crime" that he did, he's gonna grow up stronger and more defiant.

He will grow up some day.

There's a better way to handle this.

Talk. That is the key.

Hardline approach will only be responded with more hardline approach.

All shook up

The Bush administration last week stepped up the pace of change within the White House, with two major figures seeing their roles diminish.

It's all just a show to shift attention from the people's calls to have the Top Three step down.

It's not gonna be enough, Bush.

Oily situation

Kuwait is considering releasing their oil reserves for distribution.

Oh Gosh, they're falling for it hook, line and sinker. That's exactly what the US had in mind.

Cheese pie

It seems that the fanatic side of the Muslim world is showing signs of growing a. Sudan and Hamas are ignoring Osama's latest cry for attention brain.

"Dead or Alive"... that's how John Howard wants Osama. Oh puh-lease, is there any other way to want anyone?

Looks like someone else needs to grow a brain. With him at the helm, it seems that Australia is subtly trying to be a white supremacist country.

Be careful mate, the UN is watching you, particularly on your policy of isolating boat people on an island to be "processed". What, like cheese?

All systems go

Singapore’s government on Thursday called a snap general election for May 6 in which opposition parties are expected to mount their biggest challenge against the long-ruling People’s Action party in nearly 20 years.

I still don't find a good reason to support the opposition yet. It's not that I like some of the things PAP does, but there's not a lot of things that the opposition can do better. As it is, they're making the ruling party look good.

Boomplan

The Iranian plan is simple: playing the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame- duck," unable to take military action against the mullahs, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons.

Scary thought.

Whoops!

What have they got to hide?

Documents wind up missing from public archives for many reasons. Sometimes they're shelved or labeled incorrectly, or lost, and sometimes they're even stolen.

At the U.S. National Archives, documents have been disappearing since 1999 because intelligence officials had wanted them to.

The new director of the National Archives, Allen Weinstein, rightly put a stop to this nonsense as soon as he heard about it.

Dumb and Dumbinator

President Bush and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, often at odds though both are Republicans, are scheduled for one of their infrequent meetings on Friday.

The last two times Bush visited the state, the two men did not see each other. They disagree on abortion rights, offshore oil drilling and stem cell research, among other issues.

Bush will then head to Napa County for what his aides described as ``down time''. The president will visit West Sacramento, near the Capitol, on Saturday, but with the governor absent.

More golf?

Pity him. Burning countries to the ground must be tiring work. Whew! I don't want to have his job.

What is driving oil prices so high?

Crude oil prices have risen once more to levels above $71 a barrel - a rise of 25% so far in 2006!

BBC looks into the possible reasons in this article.

Donald, duck!

The war was right but the occupation has been a disaster: Rumsfeld must pay

Someone's head has got to roll. Any one of the top people will do.

The many Iraqis who initially welcomed the Americans as liberators from the tyranny of Saddam must surely have reached this conclusion: what destroyed Iraq was not the American invasion, but the arrogance and incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld.

Roasted

The new Solomon Islands prime minister-elect, Snyder Rini, has appealed for calm after more than 30 hours of violent protests over his election.

The thing is, people think the Solomon Islands' election had been rigged. They felt Snyder is too aligned to the minority ethnic Chinese community what with both China and Taiwan dangling carrots in recent years in attempts to foster diplomatic ties.

On an aside, do you notice that there is a Chinatown in just about every country in the world? Wow.

With 992 islands making the country, Solomon will be hard to govern so maybe the ANZAC's involvement is a good thing. I don't reckon Synder has the resources to protect his country at this point, especially Honiara, the capital city, which is burning to the ground as we speak.

Monster

He should just be bobbitted for twisting the religion about to suit his monstrous, sexual and perverted desires.

He's just adding fuel to the already bad press Muslims are getting.

Bloody hell

After sending its troops to the Solomon's Island to restore order after an election gone wrong, Australia now thinks it's too risky.

Should have thought of that earlier eh, mate?

What the bloody hell were you thinking?

Strong arm tactic

Hugo Chavez must have read MM Lee's memoirs or something.

Not only has he set up the new Territorial Guards, he's now also in the process of coming up with a citizen's army to protect his country against a potential invasion by the US.

Why should the US do such a thing you ask? Because this guy is making life difficult for it, that's why. And you know how the US works. Either you're in or you're out.

If you say you're out, they'll invade you and guzzle all your oil.

Gulp gulp gulp.

Hope they choke on all that oil.

Pants on fire

In other words, better get outta there, buster!

Stop lying.

Oily nose

The US blame everyone for their problems but themselves.

Now they point the finger at China for overtaking Japan as the world's SECOND-highest user of petroleum products at 6.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Guess who's first at 20 million barrels a day? That's three times more than China, buddy.

Who came up with SUVs?

And they also took the opportunity to blame China for hogging up the oil of the world from unlikely places like Sudan and Timbuktu!

Hey, can you blame China for having the foresight?!

Now they wanna know how much oil exactly China would be using in future so that it wouldn't clash with their own needs. How arrogant and selfish!

Dog fight

Tonight, little Arsenal take on little Villareal in the UEFA Champions' League Semis.

In a world of elephants, these two have done exceptionally well this season in Europe with smaller budgets and smaller team rosters.

The difference? Excellent managers.

Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini's urbane and cultured manners have translated well in transforming their little teams into giant-killers.

With their fluid passing style, Arsenal must be the only English team who don't play the English way, which is often very physical and focuses on long balls in getting the ball in the opponent's half as quick as possible.

With players like Henry, Pires, Bergkamp and even Viera (before this season) in attack, they can. Beautiful to watch.

In defence, after much chopping and changing, their current makeshift defence without household names such as Lauren, Cole and Campbell, but with the youngsters Flamini, Eboue and Senderos marshalled by Toure, they have been sort of a brickwall for the opposition.

Let's see how they deal with the South American-influenced style of The Yellow Submarines @ Villareal led by Jose Mari, Forlan and Riquelme in attack who have been efficient in disposing bigger names such as Manchester United and even Inter Milan en route to the Semis.

I really hope any of these teams would go to the Final and kick the asses of the winner of the other Semifinal match between the two mighties Barcelona and AC Milan.

Wannabe

Looks like our friends downunder are trying to do a US World Police thing too!

Australia said today it was poised to send troops to the Solomon Islands after rioting and looting through the night following the election of a new prime minister in the South Pacific nation.

How cute.

From bad to worse

Three years have passed since the US invasion of Iraq and the fall of Baghdad to the American forces. The country was invaded on the pretext of creating a free and democratic nation.

Since then, there has been a steady flow of bloody violence and suicide attacks that send a chill down the spine of all Iraqis who now are living in constant fear of an uncertain future.

The occupation of Iraq is a major event whose repercussions are felt not only in Baghdad, but throughout the Middle East.

What is happening in Iraq is not a mere war between terrorism and democracy as claimed by US President George W. Bush and his administration.

Iraq's strategic importance makes it a fertile ground for complex conflicts with new dimensions. With the US's overthrow of the world order that respected the sovereignty of all countries and intervention in their internal affairs, the fear is more real.

However, three years after the fall of Baghdad, the Bush administration is finding it difficult to defend its strategy in Iraq. No one speaks about the progress and achievements made in the war-torn country except for Bush and his senior advisers.

He's a proud, proud man. He and his cronies.

It says here that the White House is planning a staff shake-up ‘soon’. I wonder what that means. So wishy washy.

The man yesterday refused to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic republic's atomic ambitions. After spending all that money, time and resource in Iraq for a negative result, I guess "nuking 'em" would be a more economical option, huh?

Olive branch

It's not actually OK to provoke first and say sorry later but for the sake of peace and sanity I hope all parties would let it rest and stop all this immature provocation in the first place.

Prevention is better than cure, especially if you're aware of the probable magnitude of damage that can be caused right from the start.

Mad rush

According to archaeological study, as early as six or seven thousand years ago, the clan of Banpo Village in China began to kick stone balls as entertainment.

The Chinese have a stake in everything! Even soccer! Sure didn't look like it at the last World Cup but they will be presenting their case in Germany. Hey if you asked me, that's one other way to send a "soccer" team to the World Cup if you can't actually qualify for it!

That toaster you're using, the Chinese came up with one that's made of hay 5746 years ago. This laptop I'm typing on, yeap, they came up with something like this made of clay and twigs during the time of Confucius and uh huh, they invented the world's first toilet too.

They just didn't use it a lot and the idea caught on in the West before coming back to these parts during the Great East India Sale when every European country made a mad scramble to colonise any piece of land they landed on.

Death by comics

An Italian magazine close to the influential Catholic conservative Opus Dei group has published a cartoon showing the prophet Muhammad in hell, sparking outrage among Muslim associations in Rome.

Oh for crying out loud! Yet another one. Oh go on, go kill each other. I'll just sit here and finish my burger. Nyum-nyum-nyum.

King of vanilla ice cream

I cannot believe things like this are happening to a country such as Nepal.

Yes, Nepal of the Himalayas, picturesque vanilla ice cream mountains, the world's supplier of low-waged highly effective soldiers.

This is what happens when you have a power-hungry person at the helm of any organisation.

Seriously though, if all the Gurkha soldiers were to go back to Nepal, peace would automatically be restored. Because if wars were fought men to men, with each man only allowed one weapon of his choice, Nepal would rule the world.

Maybe it's a few years late but I hope King Gyanendra would do a Thailand and settle for Constitutional Monarchy. All sides would get what they want then.

The King gets to be king albeit with limited powers but what use is power if there's no country to rule?

There would be a government run by politicians from different parties but the main thing is each MP represents the people who voted him or her in.

The people would get to pick their government whose members would be their voices in Parliament.

It's just not cool to be a megalomaniac these days. People don't just simply accept what they're leaders tell them to do. Now, they question back.

I'll keep my eyes open for updates.

Strong mandate

Announcing this in the party's manifesto on Saturday, PAP Secretary General and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong left no doubt the nation's unity remains a top priority as Singapore forges ahead.

* create opportunities for Singaporeans;
* give the young the best start;
* encourage every citizen to play a role;
* do more for lower income Singaporeans;
* help older Singaporeans to lead full and active lives; and
* provide affordable healthcare for all.

I buy all of the above although there is a niggling thought in my head that's asking, "Shouldn't these be what it's all about from the beginning?"

Create opportunities for Singaporeans

As a member of the minority race, I do have a beef with this but come to think of it, no where in this world is there such a thing as "equality to all" anyway. Creating opportunities is one thing but creating equal opportunities is another.

So on a personal viewpoint, I don't think much will change for the better in this area. I'll just dig out my own opportunities from the larger amount of opportunities that the PAP said it'd create.

Give the young the best start

They're already doing that. And a good job at that too but it's getting a bit old. How about letting our future generation think on their own two feet instead of spoon-feeding them all the time? Perhaps that'd lead to a Singaporean society with more common sense.

Encourage every citizen to play a role

Also a bit old. Shouldn't even be stated out. Things like this should come naturally and it leads back to the point of that whole "Singaporean society with more common sense" bit on top.

From the ground looking up, people here tend to be a little over the top with being self-centred. It's all about "me, me , me" and no one else matters.

Do more for lower income Singaporeans

It's a problem the whole world is facing - the widening rich poor gap. Looking at the background of most of the PAP politicians, I wonder if they even know how it feels to be poor.

I still see folks in their twilight years gathering scraps from the streets hoping to sell them off for a pittance. At their age, they shouldn't be doing all that.

My family and I don't fall in this bracket now but we've been there before and it'd be nice if the PAP could tweak a few of the labour and immigration laws a bit.

For a start, how about stopping giving out carrots every year in the form of ERS, NSS, PP and spreading out the money in our Reserves over time to help us folks whose incomes fall below the "rich" level.

"Rich" level in my opinion would refer to those earning $24000/annum but that's just being basic. To be more effective, we need to calculate income per household divided by the number of people living in it.

Also, we need to stop hiring foreigners in jobs that could be filled up by Singaporeans. Firstly, we need to have a miminum wage imposed. It's a chain effect thing.

For instance, if a foodcourt pays the cleaning contractor low fees every month by selecting the lowest-bidding tender, the appointed contractor have no choice but to only be able to afford low-waged workers which half the time would be foreigners.

If the government controls how low the foodcourt is allowed to pay the contractor which would be higher than the present, the contractor would then be able to afford to hire Singaporeans. Only then the unemployment rates would be much lower. The wages to the contractor's workers must also be controlled.

Of course, this must work in tandem with making it even harder for foreigners to come in. On paper, it seems that our immigration police is doing a good job but as a guy on the ground, I don't think so.

Help older Singaporeans to lead full and active lives;

The CPF must be one of the world's greatest idea. I totally agree with it in the greater scheme of things.

Without getting too detailed, senior citizens can now retire and still have some money to live on till their toes curl up.

I hear the PAP when they say they're doing stuff like making small apartments available to senior citizens. Not all old folks have families to rely on. We must leave no man behind.

Provide affordable healthcare for all

Sadly, privatisation of healthcare providers is not the way to go.

For one, hospitals should never, never be privatised. Because if so, that'd mean they're becoming businesses. They won't treat you unless you put some money down first.

That is being a hypocrite to The Hippocratic Oath.

The Medisave in our CPF accounts doesn't help either. It's still using our own money to pay for exorbitant medical and health care support.

Oiled for life

Chavez is fostering his "21st-century socialism", an interesting blend of state control and capitalism, which sees the state establishing its own companies to outdo the private sector. This is combined with strict controls on prices, bank lending and foreign exchange.

It looks like they're trying to do a Singapore.

But they can do much better. They have OIL - infinite amounts of it!

Whoever wins...

... we lose.

Tit for tat.

"The Iranian president represents Satan and not God. History has rejected these sorts of sword-brandishing lunatics..." said Mr Shimon Peres.

"[Israel] is a decaying and crumbling tree that will fall with a storm..." was Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's response.

Loose chains

The spectacular economic progress for which Singapore is famous is no longer enough.

Chee Soon Juan also wants a more open, inclusive and democratic political system in the city state. He is backed by human rights groups.

To be honest, I am no supporter of any political party in Singapore. Not even the PAP who's been in power since forever.

But credit given where credit is due. They've done well thus far. For a tiny island nation, our progress has been nothing short of astronomical ever since we broke free from Britain's colonisation.

Credit also to Britain for giving us a push before 1965.

But every bubble's got to burst at some point and I believe the PAP is shooting itself in the foot with their policy of straitjacketing the opposition. There's no room to bounce ideas. Every idea is a one-way street.

It's PAP's way or the highway!

People are frightened to get involved as candidates or even to help the opposition. There is a very real fear of what the PAP can do. The repercussions are real.

Jail terms, fines, job dismissals, suits and bankruptcy (which automatically bars them from running in elections), people from the opposition have experienced some, if not all of those before.

If "improving our standards" is what our foreign minister George Yeo wants for us, then surely this is not the way to go. Change, has to come from within. Only then we can take on the challenges outside.

Afterall, our bigger and self-sustaining neighbours aren't gonna play second and third fiddles forever. They would have us for breakfast if we keep staying at this spot. Because they can.

Bridging over troubled waters

Malaysia decided to stop the construction of the “scenic bridge” meant to replace the Malaysian half of the Causeway because of legal implications and complications, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

I have new-found respect for Pak Lah. At last, a reasonable man in the Malaysian government.

It did hurt them a bit in the pocket though. They've already started work on the project and would now be compensating Gerbang Perdana, the construction company which was awarded the contract with a cool RM10 million. Shouldn't have been so rash in the first place, eh?

Anyway, good call in the end.

Singapore had her own demands and worries. We gotta protect our own interests too.

Firstly, the proposed bridge would be higher than the present Causeway which would effectively make it possible for ships to pass under it and bypass Singapore's ports.

Secondly, we asked for sand which of course would be used to expand our borders. Our northern neighbour has a problem with that but hey, how big can we be huh?

Thirdly, we asked to use some of the Malaysian airspace for our air force's use. A flat "NO" was of course to be expected.

Some of the past and present Malaysian politicians didn't agree with his decision but he is more wise than these people. There's not much Singapore can do against a bigger country like Malaysia but then, some things are more than meets the eye. He knows better.

Bad name

And we wonder why people have a bad opinion of us... .

1 Worshipper Killed in Egyptian Churches

Why prey on innocent people?

Malaysians protest against laws that make public kissing a crime

C'mon, people! Why impose on the rights of others? With only about 60% majority of the Malaysian population being Muslim, it's a tight rope you're walking on there.

Muslim hardliners attack Playboy building

This has gotta take the cake. These people protest about everything. Get a real job! Move with the times! Don't like it? Then don't read it!

Too fat to fit

So six retired US military generals now want Dumbsfeld to step down.

• Maj Gen Charles H Swannack Jr
• Maj Gen John Riggs
• Maj Gen John Batiste
• Marine Gen Anthony Zinni
• Marine Lt Gen Gregory Newbold
• Maj Gen Paul Eaton
• 
  

Mistakes committed by ordinary people cannot be compared with mistakes committed by policy makers and leaders simply because mistakes committed by governments or leaders will directly affect their own peoples and others in the world. And, this is the case with the US.

This guy still actually backs Dumbsfeld. I respect people who stick with their decisions whatever the brickbat or bouquet they may bring but who will pay to Iraq for the price of the thousands of tactical errors?

The US should just keep their noses to themselves and maybe, just maybe (it's just a suggestion) take care of their own problems at their own backyards first before telling the whole world how they should run their countries like the smart asses that they are.

One size doesn't fit all.

Eye in the pie

At least 65,000 Iraqis have fled their homes as a result of sectarian violence and intimidation, according to new figures from the Iraqi government.

Who taught them all these?

These fanatics find trouble with everybody and when they are not even done yet, they go around killing one another?

On the contrary, I believe there is a conspiracy going on here. Sadly, the innocent people of Iraq are the pawns in this evil masterplan. They fell for it hook, line and sinker.

First they invade Iraq as an excuse. When they couldn't find the imaginary WMD, they twisted the whole thing around and said they found WMD labs that could be used to produce them.

This guy Bush Jr, he covers crap with more crap. If he was Pinocchio, no offence to Pinocchio, his nose would circle the Earth 34 times over.

Time was running out, resources were drying up, people's patience was wearing thin so he had to pluck something from the sky real fast. And hence, "secretarian violence in Iraq" was born. That'd get them to kill one another. Imagine the huge amounts of savings they save from bullets alone at USD1.00 per 5.56mm bullet. Astronomical!

And we thought that was it.

How wrong we were.

Now the sucker's got his attention onto Iran!

Seriously, if it was WMD he was after, he has got the wrong country years back. Iraq was happily chilling out while it's bigger and mightier neighbour had greater ambitions.

According to this report, Iran is not ready for a military-grade nuclear resource. They lack the funds, they lack the materials and they simply lack the know-how.

I actually believe them a little bit if they said they were only using their nuclear facility as an alternative energy source.

Hey that's a great idea. Nuclear fission is actually one of the most economical methods to create energy. It's amazing what one iota of it could produce.

In fact, we could all switch to alternative energy right now, today!

But at USD69.97 per barrel these days, I'm absolutely certain the US isn't gonna let that happen. They need money to supplement their BIG appetite in everything.

They need to continue trading in oil pegged in USD in order to remain powerful in contrast to the Eurodollar of the EU which actually overtook the USD for a while when Jacques Chirac traded directly with Iraq some time back.

They just cannot accept being a loser. They change the rules any old how they damn please to remain champions!

It's like they can do everything they want with blatant arrogance but other sovereign nations cannot, in order to protect their own self-centred interests. So what if Iran or Timbuktu has nuclear weapons? They have the right to defend themselves against bullies like the US.

The most dangerous weapon the US have ironically isn't their own WMD. On the other hand, it's their continuous fear-mongering to hype things up.

It is elementary economics that a low supply and high demand in whatever commodity leads to higher prices but in the latest link above, it was also stated that one other reason why oil prices had hit an all time high is because of the current tension with Iran.

What's the beef?

Anyway, this guy got it right when he said he considered the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 as being "on a par with Nazi Germany".

Kudos to him for sticking to his guns for reasons he strongly believe in.

In my opinion, apart from economic reasons as well as an excuse to appear doing the job he was "elected" to do besides playing golf all day, this was also a form of crusade.

Or to put it crudely - ethnic cleansing in disguise.